With countless empty seats for the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders to play in front of Wednesday night in Uniondale, the Canes went into the All-Star break on a winning note, scoring a 4-2 win over their hosts.

Eric Staal tallied a pair of goals for the visitors, with Cam Ward adding 23 saves in the win over the Islanders. The two teams played in front of some 4,976 fans who were battling a snowstorm and the idea of watching a losing club once again.

Many empty seats greeted the Islanders and Hurricanes Wednesday night./New York Daily News

“Huge game before the break,” Staal told the Associated Press. “One point behind Atlanta (and) we wanted to make sure we got the job done here.”

Michael Grabner and Andrew MacDonald tallied goals for the Islanders, who were fresh-off a 1-0 loss 24 hours earlier on the road in Pittsburgh. Grabner is New York’s lone representative this weekend for the All-Star game in Raleigh, N.C.

“They just beat us,” added New York goalie Rick DiPietro (27 saves), 5-12-1 against the Hurricanes.

Unfortunately for Islanders fans, they’ve been able to say that against a lot of the team’s opponents this season to date.